How to Build Social Media into Your Content Marketing Processes

Many people may take social media and content marketing as one and the same. Both seem to be used interchangeably, but they are not the same! To quote Jay Baer, “content is the fuel and social media is the fire”.

So how do you do this? How do you incorporate social media into social media?

As a key always listen to your audience. Always try to find out what will really make a difference in their lives. Don’t post information that just seems to be completely off topic. You need a goal, you have to know which channels you want to post to, share relevant information and engage with your target audience.

Good Social Media with A Great Content Marketing Process

It’s good to listen to what’s going on in your target market, but before you jump into social media make sure you have your content marketing setup correctly.

Content Centralization: Your content is the star of the show. You want to show it off, so make sure you have a central location where to drive people and readers too. Understand where you want to send them and what you want them to do when they get there. Additionally, don’t build on borrowed ground. As Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose revealed on their podcast, you have to quit building your brand on a borrowed platform. Why? What happens if tomorrow the platform isn’t there anymore? You might be making a blog from Blogspot, but what happens if the company dies or is bought out and transformed into something different? So, build your own website.

Keep it Updated and Fresh: Make sure you understand that you have to continually update your presence on your social media platforms. If you have a presence, then always keep it updated and fresh. If you leave it alone, then it looks worse than not having a presence at all. Understand the commitment and resources that you will have before you commit to any platform.

Content arrangement: You have to comprehend why you are on a social media platform and what you will convey to your potential audience there. You should focus more on points of interest since that is one key way of attracting the right audience to your brand.

Quick tip: If you are new to social media promotions and social networking endeavors, it is best to begin in a small way. You can consider the top social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube as the place to begin with, and see where the biggest audience that would be interested in your product is. If you’re lost on which platform that should be used, here is a great chart that was found on http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/

As said above, for best results, you should have a working content marketing plan for each platform of the social media networks you are leveraging. It is in light of that fact that you can impart something meaningful to your esteemed audience.

In order to make an effective social media and content marketing plan, you must ask and answer the following questions truthfully:

What is the objective of this platform?

You need to know what you want out of each channel. There has to be a real reason why you’re publishing your information. Yes, you want money, but content marketing is all about offering heavily relevant & valuable information that people would pay for. A great reason would be to gain followers in order to drive traffic to your website. Think of it this way, the social media channels are like spokes on a bike, all the spokes will lead back to a centralized content location, where a conversion will eventually happen. Thus, you want to think of the funnel that you are building.

What is the Outcome?

Like the point above, you must be able to define what you need somebody to do on every platform where you have social media presence. Tell them precisely what you want them to do whether to complete and an offer, register or visit your website.

What Type of Content Do People Get On The Channel?

You have to customize your content for the channel that it is being used for. You can’t just distribute a link and hope that everyone will click on it, that is the WRONG approach. Every channel has images, videos, etc. that are all viewed differently. For example, you wouldn’t just post a link on twitter. You want to make sure that your link is accompanied by an image that is eye catching. Tweak and vary every content you circulate on every social media platform. Consider which of the contents are fitting for each media platform and make a message you think will resound with that particular group of people. Consider the sort of information that is befitting in each social media platforms and how you can offer assistance that would suit each social media network. Will you essentially distribute content, pictures, or feature? Check previous post by other people for more direction on picking the best content and distribution channels for your audience.

Make sure that you tweak every piece content you circulate on every social media platform. Consider which of the contents are fitting for each media platform and make a message you think will resonate with that particular group of people. Consider the sort of information that is befitting in each social media platforms and how you can offer assistance that would suit each social media network. Will you essentially distribute content, pictures, or feature? Check previous post by other people for more direction on picking the best content and distribution channels for your audience.

What exactly distinguish this channel from others?

In order to stand out from the competition, your content must be unique and engaging. People must be able to see you as an authority in your niche. When you establish yourself as an authority in your niche, commanding a following become easier.

How Frequently Should You Post?

It’s a keen thought to see how frequently you need to distribute content in every channel. What number of contents do you need to distribute every day/week? What time of day is best? You’ll have distinctive rhythms in the event that you are sending/reacting to tweets, refreshing your Facebook status or distributing another SlideShare, for instance. It has discovered that posting on Facebook a few times a day, checking Twitter throughout the day, and investing time every day on LinkedIn works best for many people. In any case, each organization is diverse, so you will need to invest eventually on deciding the timetable that is prone to work best for you.

Key tip: Let your objectives direct the choices you make as to which social network you opt for. For instance, if the objective of your content advertising arrangement is to increase email subscribers, would it be right to post all your blog entries on Facebook and Twitter? What reason would audience need to subscribe to your email program if they can get the same information on the social channels they visit frequently? Consider how you can change and repackage the content you impart on your informal organization audiences, both as it applies to your objectives for the channel and to your general business goals.

Twitter: Twitter is like the conversation you have at the water cooler. I post on twitter every day and extremely consistently. Almost as much as possible. My best followers are the ones that I grow organically versus purchased. I love to find relevant information and make sure that I post frequently. I also, ensure that I don’t’ just use a bot or buffer to post whatever is on the subject matter. I try to find information that would benefit my followers, even it is not my own. Additionally, I’ve found that posting must be frequent, almost every 30 seconds to one minute. I also engage with my followers’ posts or relevant posts.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is like the conversation you have in a board room. It is professional and you want to show a great presence. Your LinkedIn should concentrate on examining industry patterns with the individuals from LinkedIn group. I typically post once a day, but this depends on where you want to focus. I really like to find relevant targeted groups and join in by posting great information along with any articles that I have written. I do my best to post on LinkedIn once a day.

Facebook: Facebook is one of the most dynamic social media you will ever use. The trends there are worth following and we utilize this to your greatest advantage in creating exposure for your brand. You can actually interact with groups, which will allow you to contribute and gain some additional brand exposure. Typically, I will engage more often then post, but on our personal page, I will do my best to post once a day.

Google+: I’ve used this platform for a bit of time now and what seems to happen is that there is a large amount of group activities that happen. It is a really easy platform to use and share your thoughts and opinions on. I am still experimenting on this platform, but I love it because of how you can connect with individuals. One great benefit to this is that you can also have a quick chat with other members of a similar community.

Conclusion:

Make sure you have your content centralized. Always make sure that you post or interact consistently with any social media platform of your choice. Don’t just post and walk away, the post is just the start of the conversation, you have to engage with what others are saying as well. You want to build trust and engagement and then when you share your content, you will have some great success.

I wish you the best with your content marketing efforts! Please share and sign up to my email subscription list, I guarantee I will not spam you!